What Entrepreneurs Should Prioritize When Building a Mobile Strategy

February 27, 2014

6:15 pm

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As small business owners reach out to acquire new customers, it’ll be increasingly important to optimize users’ experience on mobile.

Consider the following truisms on the web:

Conversion is impossible without traffic.

And conversion is extremely difficult when you have a poorly designed site.

In the U.S., 80 percent of c-level executives believe that multi-screen (PCs, tablets, smartphones) is critical or very important to their strategy, according to a study by Netbiscuits.com. That’s because a bad mobile experience will be published by customers and competitors, as site visitors will quickly take their eyeballs — and disposable income — elsewhere.

“We see that the entire world has shifted towards mobile, making desktop computers almost obsolete,” says Jonathan Saragossi, founder of IM-Creator, a site builder software firm. “People are on the go and demand that all the information and tools they need will be on the go as well. This is something we always keep in mind,” said Saragossi in a February 2014 interview with e27.

When it comes to optimizing their content and design for mobile, here are three things entrepreneurs need to keep in mind.

1. Cater to skimmers, not readers.

Mobile users are very demanding. According to web experts Nielsen Norman Group, 79 percent of site visitors scan rather than read webpages. When they do read, they only take in about 20 percent of the copy.

2. Simplify your content.

On mobile, users are looking for practical information they can use the very moment they access it. Mobile is about delivering instant gratification.

Set the bait, hook the reader, convert them, and add value with practical information — in as short a period of time as possible.

3. Fight for attention.

According to a 2013 study by Flurry Analytics, Americans spend on average 2 hours and 38 minutes glued to their devices. Only 31 minutes are used to browse the web. The rest of the time are spent on apps.

Thus, 80 percent of a mobile user’s time is spent on apps. Mobile audiences prefer to do things on their devices, and not simply browse the web.

“Not all small businesses need their own native app,” says Saragossi, who is himself an entrepreneur. “An app can be a complex and overpriced solution for small businesses. I don’t see my hairdresser having his own app. But a [mobile-optimized] site? Absolutely.”